1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Lyons-la-Forêt (French pronunciation:[ljɔ̃slafɔʁɛ]) is a commune of the Euredepartment, Normandy, in northwest France. Lyons-la-Forêt has distinctive historical geography, and architecture, and contemporary culture, as a consequence of the Forest of Lyons, and its bocage, and of the adjacent Pays de Bray. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association.
Geography
Lyons-la-Forêt[3] is located 34 km (21 mi) from Rouen and 28 km (17 mi) from Gisors.
Former name: Saint-Denis-en-Lyons.
Lyons was originally the name of the forest Licontio-/Ligontio-, based probably on the Celtic root lic/lig, that is also found in the name of the stream: la Lieure Licoris /Ligoris. Same root as the river Loire < Liger and -ley in Beverley (Yorkshire) from Celtic *bibro*licos > Old English beofor beaver, *licc stream.
The town and the castle were occupied by King Philip II Augustus of France in 1193 but the following year, Richard I of England, back from captivity, obtained the restitution of Lyons; the king of England and Duke of Normandy stayed frequently until 1198. In 1202, Philip II Augustus re-conquered the city, and after him, several French kings were attracted by the Lyons forest and the good hunting grounds.
Houses built in typical Normandy style (17th and 18th centuries)
The forest is 10,700 hectares, the largest state forest in Normandy and one of the largest Beechforests in Europe. It is renowned for the "cathedral-like" straightness and height of its trees' trunks. One of its characteristics is its numerous open spaces and clearings among which lie small villages and hamlets. This makes a transition between the Vexin plateau and the Andelle valley.[9]
Personalities
Henry I of England died on 1 December 1135 of food poisoning from eating "a surfeit of lampreys" (of which he was excessively fond) at Lyons-la-Forêt (then Saint-Denis-en-Lyons). The mucus and serum of several lamprey species, including the Caspian lamprey (Caspiomyzon wagneri), river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis and L. planeri), and sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), are known to be toxic and require thorough cleaning before cooking and consumption.[10][11]
It was also the birthplace of Isaac de Benserade, French poet (1612–1691), who was one of the first intellectuals in France to evoke female homosexuality in a theater play.
Maurice Ravel stayed in Lyons many times from 1917 to 1922. He wrote music including Le Tombeau de Couperin in Le Fresne, one of the old mansions of Lyons-la-Forêt.[12]
Monique de La Bruchollerie (1915 – 1972), the classical concert pianist, lived there all her life with her family.
Gérard Souzay (1918 – 2004), the French baritone, lived there for a while during the Second World War, at la Fontaineresse, on the banks of the Lieure.
Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879 – 1933) was a renowned French designer of furniture and interiors. His house is described in several publications concerning his life and work.
The artist Paul-Émile Pissarro (the youngest son of Camille Pissarro) lived here for some years from 1922, when he bought a house and had the garden designed by his godfather, Claude Monet.
^The city of Lyon, in France too, is sometimes written Lyons in English, but the writing and the pronunciation of /s/ is the result of a confusion with Lyons-la-Forêt. Lyon does not share the same etymology and is a former Lugdunu(m) that evolved step by step into Lyon.
